Exactly!!! I've always felt popping while not necessarily harmful, can't be good for them. Once I figured oiut the palpation method for myself, I have not popped a single baby since.

I was first shown to slide both thumb and finger but I could feel the vertebre popping and could easily see that causing mre harm than good so stopped. Then months later I thought of holding my thumb still while moving just my finger and then felt my first bb!! since then have sexed over a hundred babies and find it's very easy, just have to get the species specific feel. For example BCI hemipenes are long, so the bb's are further from the vent than BRB's BRB's are smaller and less noticeable than BCI. Also, as with all methods, re-check all your females once you are good at finding males. What you are actually doing is finding all the males and the rest by default are females.

You can also start noticing visual cues once you sex a lot of them, kind of "that looks like a male" before you even palpate.
-----
Thanks,


Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com



0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

[ Show Entire Thread ]